India has closed a medical college in Indian-occupied Kashmir in what appears to be a concession to right-wing Hindu groups protesting the admission of an overwhelming majority of Muslim students to its flagship MBBS programme, 24NewsHD TV channel reported on Thursday.
According to the International media, the move has raised concerns about the politicisation of education and growing hostility towards Kashmiri Muslim students in professional institutions.
The National Medical Commission (NMC), India’s federal regulatory body for medical education, revoked the recognition of the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Medical Institute (SMVDMI) on January 6.
The medical college, located in Reasi district overlooking the Pir Panjal range, sits at the geographical divide between the Jammu plains and the Kashmir valley.
The controversy began when the institute admitted its first-ever batch of MBBS students last November. Of the 50 students enrolled in the five-year programme, 42 were Muslims, most of them residents of Kashmir, while seven were Hindus and one a Sikh.
The private college is run by a Hindu religious trust and receives partial government funding.
Admissions to medical colleges in India, both public and private, are governed by the highly competitive National Entrance Examination Test (NEET), conducted by the Ministry of Education’s National Testing Agency (NTA).
More than two million students sit the exam each year for around 120,000 MBBS seats. While government medical colleges are preferred due to lower tuition fees, their cutoffs remain extremely high, compelling many aspirants who miss the top tier to seek admission in private institutions.
Among the successful candidates was 18-year-old Saniya Jan from Baramulla in northern Kashmir, who described the moment she cleared NEET as “a dream come true.”
She told international media that qualifying for medical school had been her lifelong ambition, adding that she never expected her achievement to become part of a political controversy.
The closure of the institute has sparked outrage among students and education rights advocates who argue that merit-based admissions are being undermined by communal politics.
Critics say the episode reflects a deepening climate of discrimination at a time when Kashmiri students are increasingly excelling in national-level examinations despite limited resources and political instability.